Global Warming May Delay Recovery of Stratospheric Ozone

Office of News and Information - Johns Hopkins University - 901 South Bond Street, Suite 540 - Baltimore, Maryland 21231 - Phone: 443-287-9960 - Fax: 443-287-9920 February 4, 2009 - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - JOHNS HOPKINS: Lisa De Nike - Lde [a] jhu (p) edu , 443-287-9960 - AMER. GEOPHYSICAL UNION: Maria-José Viñas - mjvinas [a] agu (p) org , 202-777-7530 Increasing greenhouse gases could delay, or even postpone indefinitely the recovery of stratospheric ozone in some regions of the Earth, a Johns Hopkins earth scientist suggests. This change might take a toll on public health. Darryn W. Waugh , a professor in the Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and his colleagues report that climate change could provoke variations in the circulation of air in the lower stratosphere in tropical and southern mid-latitudes — a band of the Earth including Australia and Brazil. The circulation changes would cause ozone levels in these areas never to return to levels that were present before decline began, even after ozone-depleting substances have been wiped out from the atmosphere. "Global warming causes changes in the speed that the air is transported into and through the lower stratosphere [in tropical and southern mid-latitudes]," says Waugh. "You're moving the air through it quicker, so less ozone gets formed." He and his team present their findings in the Feb.